Journal Article #2 March

Switzer, M. (2010). Bridging the Math Gap. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 15(7), 400.
SUMMARY

Bridging the gap between elementary school and junior high school is very important. A lot of times the mathematical concepts that students learn in elementary school are not connected to what they are learning in junior high. One of the first things that a junior high math teacher should do is find out the prior knowledge of their students. They should know what the students know, and the different ways that they learned to do things. Instead of students using traditional algorithms, it is important to have your students try to come up with methods of figuring out answers and being able to explain how their methods work. Students need to not only understand number sense, they need to understand how to apply that number sense to problem situations and know how to use them.

In a school district there is always a math curriculum facilitator. This person is in charge of teaching the teachers what the students in previous grade levels have learned and how they learned them. Teachers need to understand the different types of algorithms that the students know, so that they can be able to build upon their students knowledge in a positive and effective way.

EVALUATION

This article was extremely interesting. Even though I have thought about teaching mathematics in both elementary and junior high school, I never really realized about the gap between the two. This gap is very important and as teachers we need to pay close attention to it. When students go from one school to another, the teaching may be different. The way one student may have learned long multiplication in elementary school may be completely different than how the teachers do it in junior high school. This is why it is important for teachers in the elementary school and junior high school level to be in constant communication and make sure that the techniques being used are very similar. This article really stressed the importance of this, and I completely agree with it. Another important topic brought up is that teachers should understand various algorithms for different types of math. This way if a student comes into the school learning a math process differently than it is being taught, the teacher will be able to understand what the student is doing, and better help them. The concepts brought up in this article are very important. I believe that any teacher, in all subjects not just math, should always think about the gaps between different grade levels and schools, and how to help bridge those gaps.